The Who's Townshend selects Audient

Taking time out from The Who’s rigorous touring schedule, the band’s guitarist and songwriter, Pete Townshend, has selected an Audient ASP8024 analogue desk for his new multi-functional recording studio.

Taking time out from The Who’s rigorous touring schedule, the band’s guitarist and songwriter, Pete Townshend, has specified an Audient ASP8024 analogue desk for his new multi-functional recording studio.

The Who co-founder was already familiar with the ASP8024, having used it during work on a 5.1 mix of the band’s 1969 opus, Tommy, and its most recent studio album, 2006’s Endless Wire.

Reflecting on those experiences, Townshend highlighted the Audient desk’s flexibility. “I also used it as a multi-track desk sometimes, with a RADAR coming up on the inline monitor faders,” he said. “I used line channels sometimes for my ProTools output groups, and with an Audient ASP510 Surround Sound Controller, enjoyed complete versatility with various monitors and a degree of downmix at my fingertips.

“Sure, you can do that using ProTools plug-ins, but I wanted to sit in the ‘sweet spot’ to check 5.1 against stereo, stereo against mono, [and] also listen to post-Dolby surround encoding. You just punch a few buttons and you’re done.”

The mic amps were also signalled out for praise, along with the “fabulous” EQ, described as “clean, airy and solid.”

The sale of the console to Townshend was handled by Audient dealer Funky Junk.

“Everything I've wanted to do, I've been able to do on an Audient,” concluded Townshend. “If you can afford an Audient, go for it, it is a bargain. Incredible value for money, and they hold their value because they are rarely changed. And if you are building a room from scratch, and have the space, and are really smart like me – you'll have a patchbay.”

Richard Ferriday confirms that “numerous” rental houses are choosing the PRO3 digital audio system as their entry to Midas digital mixing. Meanwhile, four PRO9s are being installed within a single networked solution in Iceland.